By Jean Casella and James Ridgeway

December 7, 2018

Metropolitan Correctional Center

• This week, a federal judge ruled that the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) has failed to uphold a 2016 settlement that mandated at least eight hours of out-of-cell time per week for people with mental illness held in solitary confinement. According to NPR Illinois, about 12,000 out of the 40,000 people incarcerated in Illinois […]

• In an article in The Conversation, a clinical psychologist who has conducted neuroscience research in a Connecticut state prison points out that solitary confinement “can lead to hallucinations, fantasies and paranoia; it can increase anxiety, depression and apathy as well as difficulties in thinking concentrating, remembering, paying attention and controlling impulses,” which not only lessen […]

• The watchdog group Disability Rights New York released a report about conditions inside the mental health treatment unit at Attica Correctional Facility, known as the Residential Mental Health Unit (RMHU). According to Shadowproof, “While in theory the RMHU is supposed to be a therapeutic alternative to punitive solitary confinement, in reality there are many similarities […]

• Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman asked a federal judge in Brooklyn to drop the charges against him on the basis that he is being in held conditions of isolation on the 10 South unit of Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center that amount to torture. “The Mexican Government’s Consent did not contemplate that Mr. Guzman would be subject […]

• A demonstration against solitary confinement was held outside the home of Michigan Department of Corrections Director Heidi Washington. According to one local outlet, “the demonstration follows the suicide (still under investigation) of a young man on May 2nd at Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee, where most of the 70 have been incarcerated.” • Joaquin […]

• A North Carolina man convicted of gang-related murders, and sentenced to eight life sentences, is enduring a heightened form of isolation after being placed on “Special Administrative Measures,” or SAMs, restrictions on his conditions of incarceration that are usually reserved for accused terrorists. Jamell Cureton is one of only 48 people in Bureau of […]

• Prison officers at the Tecumseh State Prison in Nebraska are concerned that the “soft” treatment of people on the inside, including a reduction in the use of solitary confinement, is putting the safety of guards at risk. “We’re rewarding bad behavior. You’re seeing it every day in the news,” one officer told the Omaha […]

• Lawyers for Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is currently held in solitary confinement in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, have filed papers asking that their client be transferred to general population and be granted visiting privileges to speak to his wife. According to CNN, “During the week, Guzman spends 23 hours […]

• Vox addressed “how the first liberal Supreme Court in a generation could reshape America” if Hillary Clinton is elected, including when it comes to solitary confinement. “Even if the Court were to only place a five-year maximum on periods in solitary confinement, that would be a significant step forward,” the piece reads. “If the […]

• VICE published a piece on the experiences of people with mental illness in solitary confinement. Journalist Paul Willis quotes the words of ADX prisoner Tommy Silverstein. “The mental anguish of 28 years of solitary confinement is worse than any physical pain I have ever suffered or imagined… The indefiniteness of my confinement makes my mental […]

In a much-quoted Truthdig piece, Chris Hedges wrote last week about the case of Syed Fahad Hashmi, a Muslim American imprisoned at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan as he awaits trial for conspiracy to provide support to terrorists (as Hedges puts it, he is “accused of facilitating the delivery of socks to al-Qaida.”) The piece includes […]